"Very on time" said the Queen while rubbing a piece of meat with spices and squinted at the ringing telephone. "And very interesting." she added, reading the name on the screen. After she hastily wiped her hands, she answered the call.
"Regina, he's gone!" Her half said eagerly. "Henry. He saw you and me this morning. He ran away from me and went at the room he shared with David. I was talking to him through the door for almost an hour and then when David returned - he walked in with Neal - it turned out that he wasn't inside! He had escaped. We searched the entire hotel, I went to all the places he could be at, but he is nowhere to be found. He is gone."
"Well, there we go.", the Queen sighed. "Have you reported it to the police yet?"
"Off course!" Regina exclaimed. "But what do they care? They believe the young man will be back by evening time. But we know that this isn't so! We don't know what he's up to but we can expect anything from him!"
"Okay, don't panic, I'm calling Gold. Do not hang up, I'll connect you both through a conference call if I remember how to do this on this phone ... Yeah, now ... Now ..."
"Yes, darling?" Gold's warm voice came through.
"Hi…" The Queen's voice subtly changed. "Regina called me just now and we have problems."
"Already?", said a surprised Gold. "So fast?"
"Henry saw us together this morning and he ran away.", the Queen said. "Regina will tell you everything in detail now."
Miss Mills repeated the whole story.
"Really?", Gold asked. "He wasn't even staying at the same room with you?"
"Yes", the Mayor said irritably, "you grasped the very essence of the problem!"
"I got the point, don't worry.", Gold answered. "Come back to us and do something useful there. Take a walk with Gideon, for example. He has become very active lately; it's hard for Regina to chase after him all over the playground for two hours in a row."
"Really?", the Queen was surprised.
"Oh, are you still here? Sorry.", Gold grinned. "Generally, find yourself some useful activities to do for now. By evening, I will have brought you your Henry back. Yes, Miss Mills, send me his picture. You probably have a lot of them on the phone."
"Yes, there are some there.", the Mayor answered.
"Well then! Send one right away." He disconnected.
"Is everything okay?" Trenton looked up at him as he continued laying out papers in the files.
"We'll see." Gold shrugged. "Call your captain from the nineteenth station, I need to find someone. Oh, and here he is." He opened the photograph he received.
"Who's this guy?" Trenton peered at the screen.
"The son of a relative of mine." Gold sent the photograph to Trenton. "He had a fight with his mother and run away from home."
"The teenage crisis." Trenton nodded. "And what should they do with him when they find him?"
"Let them keep him at the station.", Gold shrugged. "I'll go get him as soon as I'm free."
"And his mom?", Trenton inquired.
"And his mom will get him back only from my hands.", Gold answered. "I need to talk to him before he goes back to her."
"I get it.", Trenton nodded. "Everything will be in order."
"Hi." Regina Mills stood on the threshold of the Golds house again after a short while.
"Come in." The Queen motioned for her to enter.
"And here we are again in an awkward situation, right?" The Mayor entered at the hallway.
"Oh, stop it." The Queen took her coat. "We have already discussed that you are welcome here, despite Henry's antics."
"Do you think he will find him?" The Mayor asked tensely.
"I have no doubt.", the Queen assured her. "If Gold said he would bring him here by evening, then he will bring him here by evening."
"You really believe in him.", the Mayor said.
"Yes." The Queen smiled. "Exactly."
"It seems to me that something is burning up." the Mayor sniffed.
"It is!" The Queen hurried to the kitchen.
After taking off her shoes, Regina followed her.
"Do you want me to make some dinner?" she suggested to the Queen who was already scraping garlic and finely chopped tomatoes from the pan.
"No, there's no use.", her sister dismissed her. "You don't know what he loves and how. Don't."
"You know, it's quite difficult", Regina sat down at the table, "not to constantly return to talking about your relationship."
"Well, if you want, let's go into it.", the Queen smiled.
"Perhaps not.", the Mayor looked around. "But I can't just sit here, I need to do something."
"You really can take Gideon for a walk." she nodded at her son. "Besides, he was already getting bored with me here. And it will also be good for you: you will break free, breathe some fresh air."
"Really?", the Mayor was amazed. "Do you trust me that much? I can leave with him and never return."
"Stop it. We both know you won't do this.", the Queen replied. "Let's be honest, you could have left with him last night. Nobody tied you to the bed. And yet he is still here. Like you." She laid a hand on her shoulder. "So yes, I do trust you that much. But if you are too lazy, just say so, I will take him for a walk myself."
"I'm not lazy." Regina gently patted the boy's hair who was sitting next to her. "Will you come with me for a walk?"
"Yes!" The child was enthused.
"Very well.", the Queen nodded. "The nursery is on the second floor, you remember. The park is across the street. Don't show up for the next couple of hours!"
"Agreed." Regina held out her hand for the baby boy. "Let's go?"
Sitting on a park bench, squinting from the bright winter sun, she watched with pleasure as the baby was rolling a ball out of snow when a woman sat down next to her.
"Regina, hello!", she smiled. "You can be congratulated?!" She nodded at Miss Mills' belly. "Girl, as promised? Hello!" She waved to Gideon.
"What?", the Mayor was confused. "No ... I ... I'm not her..."
"What do you mean?" Now her conversationalist was also taken aback.
"I ..." she hesitated. "I'm her sister."
"I didn't know Regina had a sister." The blonde was surprised.
"Yes, we ourselves do not ..." Miss Mills fell silent. "I mean to say, we did not communicate for a long time."
"In any case, nice to meet you." The woman moved closer. "I'm Jessica.", she introduced herself.
"Regina." the Mayor nodded.
"As in?" the woman asked. "Are you both Reginas?"
"Well ... yes ...", she answered uncertainly.
"Your parents don't have a great imagination..." Jessica said confused. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to say that at all!", she then realized.
"No, don't worry ... Generally ... It's like that ..."
"Well, you certainly won't mix it up." The woman smiled. "Regina and Regina - very convenient."
"Perhaps.", the Mayor agreed.
"Is Regina all right?", the blonde inquired. "Usually she takes the child for a walk herself."
"She's busy with dinner." Miss Mills smiled.
"Well. Well, I stopped practically for a just second." The woman stood up and extended her hand. "I already have to go, say hello to ... Regina."
"Wait." The Mayor followed her. "How long have you known them for?"
"Who? The Golds?", Jessica asked. "Almost a year. Ever since they moved here."
"And what do you think of them?"
"Oh, I get it." she smiled. "Don't worry, he is a good husband. And he loves your sister."
"You think so?"
"I see it." She gently took her hand away from the Mayor's. "I really have to go, all the best."
"To you too ..." Miss Mills sat down on the bench again.
"Where is he?" Gold entered the police station on 19th Street at exactly seven o'clock in the evening.
"In the interrogation room.", answered the detective who met him. "I will accompany you."
"Do me a favor." Gold nodded wearily.
They walked through several corridors until the detective finally unlocked one of the doors.
"Please.", he made a pass with his hand.
"Thank you." Gold entered the room. "What were you thinking?" He turned to Henry who was sitting at the table, closing the door behind him.
"Who would doubt this was your doing." Henry answered sharply. "You have to put everyone to jail, right?"
"Well, you are not in prison yet." Gold shrugged. "Although this can be arranged. What were you thinking running away from your mother? She's insanely worried. She has practically been knocked down trying to find you. Why are you doing this to her?"
"My mother is in prison! Because of you!" Henry spat out with meanness.
"Oh really?" Gold said in surprise. "What about the woman who raised you all these years? Is she not your mother anymore? Oh wait, it's the Evil Queen, who took away the happy endings from everyone. Or maybe not. The Evil Queen has long been living separately from her. And this is just Miss Mills. From which you saw nothing but love. And that brings us back to the question, why are you doing this to her?"
"She betrayed me! She betrayed us all! I saw her today with the Queen!" The teenage boy jumped to his feet. "She made her choice."
"Sit down." Gold abruptly set him back on a chair, squeezing his shoulder with force. "And calm down."
"Hands off!", Henry blurted out. "Or what, are you going to beat me?"
"Hardly." Gold answered calmly. "Although that is also possible. Considering that your mother is now crying on the shoulder of my pregnant wife and is making her nervous, think for yourself how my patience has been more than enough. So what did you plan to do after running away? Besides bringing your mother close to hysteria."
"To find someone who can free Emma with magic." Henry answered.
"And who is that?", Gold asked.
"The Dragon." Henry smiled. "I will find a way to free him from the looking glass into which the Evil Queen has imprisoned him."
"You know, you're treating magic too loosely." He sat across from Henry. "And that already had been bothering me. First you decided to destroy magic at the very moment I was trying to bring Belle back from that damn world of untold stories. Now you have decided to let magic roam free into this world. You don't know how it will end but you don't give a damn, right? The main thing is that all your wishes are fulfilled."
"My wishes are simple.", he leaned towards Gold. "I want my mother to be free! My real mother."
"Your real mother is Regina. She raised you, she has loved you all this time and she still loves you. Even though you bring her a lot of suffering. So now you will come with me, apologize to her and will no longer upset her."
"ME? With you? To Regina and the Evil Queen?" Henry grinned. "No, I'd rather stay in prison!"
"You know, I, too, have no burning desire to deal with you." He rubbed his temples. "But you are Bae's son. And Regina's. Both Reginas'. Which makes the situation pretty hopeless. Believe me; I can turn your life into hell in many ways. And only your good will can stop me. All that I need from you is that you love your mother and not to upset her. It's not that hard, is it?"
"My mother is in prison!", Henry repeated.
"Here we go again." Gold sighed. "She will be released in due time. You see, the fact that you and Miss Swan do not like how our breakup with Belle ended up, is no excuse for kidnapping. At least here. In addition, Miss Mills is no less your mother than Miss Swan, but even much more. She is your family. And she doesn't deserve what you're doing to her."
"Why are you so worried about her?" Henry asked ironically. "Do you really care?"
"Regina is my friend.", Gold answered. "I know her much longer than you have lived in the world. I know how much she went through and I want her to be happy. Not to mention the fact that I want my wife to be happy, who loves Regina as a sister. She is part of our family and I will take care of her, believe me. The question is how painful it will be for you. I can and will knock all the nonsense out of you, figuratively speaking."
"I see. Not only my wishes must come true for sure, right?" Henry squinted.
"Mine will come true." Gold assured him. "Generally, the plan is this: you are going to the hotel with me now, pack your things and then you are coming to us, apologize to your mother and have dinner with her. After that, your mother will go with you to the airport and tonight you'll fly off to Cardiff school, accompanied by one of the school's appointed escort. There you will have a whole semester to reflect on life, think about yourself, about family. And additionally do some of those less important things, like improve your mathematics, physics and other courses and disciplines you have such problems with at our beautiful Storybrooke school. Regina at this time will be able to rest, settle down, recover a little and live a quiet life. And in the summer you will come to mom for a vacation. Something like that."
"Do you really think that I will agree to this?" Henry grinned.
"Of course you will." Gold sighed. "Because, in this case, I will indeed remove the curse from Snow White and Prince Charming. Otherwise ... Believe me, you don't want to know how I will achieve my goal if you continue to resist."
"Henry!" Miss Mills hugged her son tightly, as soon as he and Gold entered the hallway. "I'm so glad to see you! Lord, I was so worried."
"I think it's best you stay alone." The Queen whispered to her quietly, glancing at her husband. "Dinner in the kitchen."
"Come on." Regina dragged her son along without question.
"A subtle move." Gold smiled, kissing his wife.
"Well, it is what it is." she took off his coat. "Go, take a break from talking with your beloved grandson."
He went into the living room and crashed into a chair by the fireplace.
"Where did you find him?" The Queen, bending over towards her husband, gently stretched his shoulders.
"At the police station, where he was taken at my request." He slightly moved her hand.
"As I would guess." Regina smiled. "And what was he planning to do this time?"
"Well, try to guess again." He stretched, flexing his neck.
"No idea." Regina answered after thinking.
"Find the Dragon and turn New York into New Storybrooke." He threw his head back, resting it on the back of his chair.
"As always excessive." The Queen gently rubbed his temples. "I will not ask how you managed for him to agree with you. How's court going?"
"The court is going very well." Gold said. "Marble, mahogany, large windows — nice to visit."
"Oh, okay then. It's strange that Henry is still alive." the Queen grinned.
"Really?" Gold was surprised. "Is that your opinion about me? Nevermind. I will appeal this decision. Forget about it."
"How is your leg?" She lightly kissed his temple.
"Well, you told me not to complain to you", he stroked her shoulder, "so I have nothing to tell you about my leg."
She sat on the floor next to him and gently massaged his ankle.
"There?", she said.
"There." He closed his eyes.
"Do you want me to bring you anything?" She asked after a while.
"Yourself." Gold said, pulling her up and sitting her on his lap.
"Oh, come on, Henry and Regina are in the next room!" The Queen was indignant.
"They are busy." He ran a hand under her dress and slipped two fingers inside her.
"Rumple", the Queen breathed.
"And you are glad to see me." he concluded, unfastening his trouser.
"Do you think everything will work out?" The Queen laid her head on her husband's shoulder, watching her half and Henry getting into a taxi.
"We'll see." he hugged her. "For now, do not think about it. We will have almost half a year of a quiet life. And after that we will solve any problems with Henry as they present themselves."
"If he doesn't run away from there too.", the Queen sighed.
"He will not run away." Gold assured her. "I pay to this wonderful boarding school forty thousand pounds a year not in the least for the child to wander around into the unknown. They are aware, I believe. And, given their strict orders, by the end of the semester he will truly love his mother and truly want to go home for the holidays."
"I hope so." She closed the door, waving Regina goodbye. "Shall we go to sleep?"
"Immediately." He kissed his wife, clutching her to him.